Hello, 2012!

Hi everyone!
I hope everyone had a nice holiday with their families. I know that I sure did! It was great to be home.
But now I am greeting you, once again, from France! I safely arrived in Nantes around noon. Both of my flights were great and quick. My first flight, which took 9 hours to get home, only took 7.5 hours to get to France. I also sat beside a really nice man who is Canadian but works as an interpreter in Paris. He studied teaching at the U of Ottawa but found that he really enjoyed interpreting. It was really interesting talking to him, because his job has taken him everywhere. He said that his most nerve-wracking work trip was to the Democratic Republic of Congo recently as an election observer. He said that he was relieved to leave after 6 days, which made me think of a friend of mine who spent a month there doing missions work. It sounds like a whole other world!
I also managed to catch a couple of hours of sleep on my first flight. My second flight was fairly easy to find and I didn't have to wait long for it. It wasn't full, and one woman wanted to change seats because she didn't want to be near the emergency exit so I switched with her and got a whole row to myself. I started reading the Hunger Games, which kept me very occupied on my travels.
Finally, I made it back. I mostly swapped stories and caught up with a friend, and did some grocery shopping. Oh, and took a 1 hour nap. I think I will be going to bed soon; I can feel my eye-lids drooping.
I am going to try to write one blog post each week on how my training for the Paris Half-Marathon is going. This will keep me accountable and also hopefully be interesting! I had been having some shoe problems before the break, but I have a new pair now so hopefully my runs will feel better. The race is Mar. 4, which gives me about 2 months left to train. I am very excited but nervous too, of course.
As a quick and random side note that has nothing to do with running: if you have never read any Stuart McLean books, I recommend that you do so immediately! I just read one my Mom got for Christmas and it was wonderful. His stories have great Canadian themes that make you think about and appreciate our country.
And with that, I turn my attention to the country I am currently in, France. Looking forward to another great semester!